Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Nineties to the present ...

Ninties was the period of Grunge and Indie-rock ... However rock has been fading since the 90's, and its hip-hop that dominates the music scene now ...

GRUNGE ROCK:By late 1980’s rock-music was dominated by aging rock artists, commercial pop-rock and hair metal. Any trace of Rock as rebel-music or with punk-ethics was lost in corporate sponsored and mass-marketed musical products. But some young musicians rejected this glamour-oriented posturing and created a crude and sometimes angry music. This new trend emerged mostly in Seattle and the style was dubbed as GRUNGE.- It is mostly associated with Generation X in the US. GenX [1965-75] is the generation following the baby boomer generation …- It is closely associated with the DIY culture …- The lyrics were typically angst filled: anger, frustration, sadness, fear and depression …- As a style of music it is often associated with “dirty” guitar, strong riffs and heavy drumming …

In many ways grunge was to the 90’s what punk was to 70’s. It provided a welcome return to the garage band sound of the 60’s. Early grunge bands are Alice in Chains and Soundgarden. Grunge remained mostly a local Northwest American phenomenon, until the breakthrough of Nirvana in 1991. Nirvana was an instant sensation worldwide and with its emergence, hair-metal almost completely faded from mainstream. Other bands that emerged on grunge scene are: Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Skin Yard ….However it remained short-lives. Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain committed suicide in 1994, Soundgarden broke in 1999 and others were not strong enough to carry the torch…Some hits:Smells like teen spirit – NirvanaCome as you are – NirvanaDaughter - Pearl JamRooster – Alice in chains

INDIE ROCK: Indie Rock stands for “Independent Rock”. Most of its artists sign to independent record labels, rather than major ones. Indie Rock evolved from “Alternative Rock” of the 80’s. The term coined to describe punk-rock inspired music geners of its times; which did not fit into mainstream genres of its time; so alternative rock. But in the 1990’s they broke into mainstream and achieved commercial success; and as alternative generes became commercialized, the term “indie Rock” began to be used. Notable Indie Rock bands are REM, Sonis Youth, Red Hot Chillie Peppers…

However, by 1990’s hip-hop started dominating the charts. Bands like 50cents, Snoop Dog, Puff Daddy, Nelly, Eminem, JayZ , Kanya West … now rule the music scene. There’s also presence of “Nu-meta” l with bands like Linkin Park, Slipknot and Mushroomhead. Some notable new rock-artists are … Green Day, Avril Lavigne … But the classic rockers still rule; and "Top Tours" of year 2005 is dominated by names of old rock-bands/artists like ... U2, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Eagles, Motley Crew and Bruce Springsteen!!!